Hagia Sophia

SUMELA MONASTERY

The core of the compaund is a cave church built beside a holy spring in a natural hollow .Here in 386 AD , the monks Sophronius ana Barnabas discovered an icon of virgin Mary reportedly painted by Saint Luke himself.The monastery was already thriving by Justinians reign (6.crntury ) , though it acquired its size in the 14.century .Several of emperors –in exile of Trebizond were crowned here .It continued to flourish under Turkish rule , protected by a generaus charter of Selim 1 ( 16.century ) . Abandoned in 1923 , the monastery was already in ruins eigty years later ,when a monk returned in disguise to remove the holy icon from its hiding place .It is now in the monastery of New Sumelas near Veria in Northern Greece .The remaining icons were scattered widely ; some ended up in Dublin or Oxford .A fire gutted the buildings , treasure hunters dug up the floors , graffiti artist went to work on the walls .Protection of sorts was at last established in the 1970’s .A major restoration is now in progress .

HAGIA SOPHIA

The imperial church of Trabzon was named , like its namesake in Istanbul , for the Holy Wisdom of Christ .It was built under emperor Manuel 1 81238-1263) of Trabzon, converted into a mosque after the Turkish concquest, and abandoned at the some point in the 19th century.The restoration carried out in the 1960s under theauspices of Byzantine Institute at Dumbarton Oaks, DC , has revealed a spectacular series of 13th centuryfrescoes-55 Biblical scenesin all - under 400 year's worth of whitwwash and grime .They form one of the world's foremost collections of the late Byzantine art .The arcitecture of the church shows Georgian influence .A detached campanile, in Italian style , was added in 1443. It is painted inside with frescoes of inferior quality.Converteda museum , the Hagia Sophia stands on a bluff near the sea 3 km west of the centre .

ATATURK MANSION

The elegant art nouveau residense was built in 1903 for Constantine Kapagiannidis , a prominent Greek was mentioned as a possible president for the would be Ponc Republic .Anotherrepublic carried the day , and the house became the property of Ataturk , who recieved it as a gift his visit to the city in 1937 .The on site museum displays a good collection of period furniture and some interesting mementoes of the Turkish president .The mansion is on Soguksu hill , a wealthy summer suburb 8 km southwest of the city centre .

KAYMAKLI MONASTERY

The former Armenian monastery of the Saviour, now part of a privately qwned farm ,remains undocumented in most publications about Trabzon, and unfamilier to many residents o the city . It hides in semi rural neighbourhood high above the Erzurum road , 5 km southeast of the citycentre.The atmosohere of the monastery is undisturbed by either tourism or official sanctimoniousness.The haybarn stands in closed courtyard full of farm sights and smells ; it was built in 1424 as a church and its covered completly with 17 thcentury frescoes of great sophistication .

VAZELON MONASTERY

48 km SW of Trabzon.Right turn signposted "Kopryyani-Kiremitli" 15 km after Maçka (dir Erzurum ) ;poor forest road for 6 km, then 15 minute climb on foot . The third monasteries of the Maçka (Matzouka )Valley is located at the food of a cliff in nearly impenetrable forest.The setting is less dramatic then other two, but some excellent frescoes provide recompense. The church is set beside a natural spring.It is mediaeval , while the monastic buildings date from the end of the 19th century .

PANAGIA THEOSKESPATOS MONASTERY

The massive monastery of Panagia Theoskepastos (14-19th century) remains aa a weed-infest ruin . Several Byzantine churces continue to serve as mosques.Best known among them is Fatih Mosque in the Ortahisar section of the Old City , the 10 th century cathedral of Panagia Chrysocephalos (Gold headed virgin ).Yeni Cuma Mosque, formerly the church of St Eugenios (1222), hides in a hard to reach neighbourhood below the Citadel .The finest Turkish monument as a such is the Mosque and Tomb of Gulbahar Hatun (1505) , commemorating the mother of Selim 1 , whose long tenure as a governor of Trabzonhas left marks throughout the region .

PERİSTERA ( KUSTUL ) MONASTERY

Nearly as striking as Sumel but pratically unknown to the turist industry, the ruins of the monastery of St George Peristera stand on top of a pillar of rock in the beautiful, isolated valley of Kustul .The settings reminds of the monasteries of Meteora in Greece.Thje road goes through deep , wet forest , fording streams and cascades , skirting wildly overgrown flora .The history of the site paralels that of Sumela ; the origins are mediaeval ; the monastic buildings were re constructed after a fire in 1906 and abandoned 17 years later.Few details and no frescoes .

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